1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical use of compounds isolated from Antrodia camphorata, in particular to a use of manufacturing medicaments for treating kidney diseases.
2. The Prior Arts
Antrodia camphorata is also called Chang-Zhi, Niu Chang-Gu, red camphor mushroom and the like, which is a perennial mushroom belonging to the order Aphyllophorales, the family Polyporaceae. The Antrodia camphorata is a unique Formosan fungal growing on the inner wall of the rotten cavity Cinnamomum kanehirai Hay. Cinnamoum kanehirai Hay is rarely distributed and overcut unlawfully, which makes Antrodia camphorata parasitizing inside the tree in the wild become even rare. The price of Antrodia camphorata is very expensive due to the extremely slow growth rate of the fruiting body that only grows between June to October. In traditional Taiwanese medicine, Antrodia camphorata has effects on antidote, antidiarrhea, anti-inflammation, liver diseases treatment, anti-cancer and the like. Antrodia camphorata like general edible-medicinal mushrooms is rich in numerous complicated components, in which the well-known bioactive components are included triterpenoids, polysaccharides (such as β-D-glucan), vitamins (such as vitamin B, nicotinic acid), protein (immunoglobulin), superoxide dismutase (SOD), trace element (such as calcium, phosphorous, germanium), nucleic acid, sterols and stabilizers for blood pressure (such as antodia acid) and the like. These bioactive components are believed to exhibit effects such as: anti-tumor activities, increasing immuno-modulating activities, anti-allergy, anti-bacteria, anti-high blood pressure, decreasing blood sugar, decreasing cholesterol and the like. Wherein particular components which have been discovered in the recent years may have effects on anti-inflammation, especially treating kidney diseases.
General speaking, the common kidney diseases mean the functions of kidney are influenced by attacking the glomerulus. The glomerulus diseases which include numerous symptoms due to various genes and environment conditions, mainly classify into glomerulosclerosis and glomerulonephritis. Glomerulosclerosis is a sclerosis of glomerulus in kidney. Generally, it is an injury of blood capillary, glomerulus in kidney, and kidney functional unit which is used to filter urine from blood. Proteinuria (most amount of protein in urine) is one of the signs of glomerulosclerosis. The kidney injuries can influence the filtering function of kidney and cause proteins to leak from blood into urine. However, glomerulosclerosis is merely one of numerous factors to lead proteinuria. In addition, kidney biopsy may be a necessary indication for determining whether a patient suffers from glomerulosclerosis or another kidney disease. Glomerulosclerosis, especially means focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and nodular glomerulosclerosis.
Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is determined by the injured characteristics of focal segmental sclerosis and foot process effacemen. The research in the past twenty years shows that the incidence of an end-stage kidney disease suffered by the patients with FSGS is about 13 to 78 percent. Although the causes and sources of FSGS are not clearly, but mainly due to visceral epithelial cell injuries, which lead to complicated reaction in glomerulus, and then cause glomerulosclerosis.
Nephropatia diabeica or intercapillary glomerulonephritis also called as diabetic nephropathy or Kimmelstiel-Wilson syndrome, is a progressive kidney disease which is caused by angiopathy of capillaries in kidney glomerulus. This disease is characterized by nephrotic syndrome and diffuse glomerulosclerosis or suffering from diabetes mellitus for long time. In addition, a primary treatment in many countries is dialysis.
Up to now, steroids and immunosuppressive medicaments are mainly used to treat primary FSGS, but these developing therapies are still limited for treating the kidney injuries because of various side effects. As a result, the therapies are just based on experience rules rather than pathologic evidences.
Glomerulonephritis is an inflammation in the kidney membranes which have functions for filtrating wastes and unwanted fluids from blood.
The most common glomerulonephritis is IgA nephropathy (IgAN). The cause leading to accelerate the development of glomerulonephritis is not able to predict, prevent and treat clinically. Therefore, it is considered the main factor which could develop chronic kidney failure of kidney diseases. As a result, even the other immune, clinical, pathological factors can cause kidney failure in the patient's kidneys who suffer from IgAN, but abnormal increases of systemic T cell activation, lumphocyte/macrophage/neutrophil are also considered one of main process which cause IgAN to transfer to the chronic kidney failure. Moreover, oxidative stress is also considered a main process which causes IgAN to increase and develop in the patients and the animal model. There has been reported that reactive oxygen species (ROS) can directly lead to disease in most human and experimental kidney diseases.
Although glucocorticoid is widely used to treat the patients suffering from IgAN. However, the effects of glucocorticoid in maintaining the kidney function of IgAN and in lowering the urinary protein are not clear. The side effects of leading to potential uncontrollable inhibited immune response due to use glucocorticoid steroid for long periods of time also make medical problems.
It has been known that extractions from Antrodia camphorata contain various medical effects from recent numerous experiments, wherein the compositions of extractions from the Antrodia camphorata have also been analyzed. However, it is an issue to be solved that whether the extractions from Antrodia camphorata contain any other compounds for efficiently treating kidney diseases.